The four precious metals that may be held in an individual retirement account are gold, silver, platinum and palladium, provided they are in the form of IRS-approved coin or bar products. Not all gold investments can be owned by an IRA. The basic rule is that an IRA must not own a collector’s item and precious metals are defined as collectibles, regardless of whether the investment is in gold bars or coins. Fortunately, there are exceptions to the general rule for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, which are held in certain forms. To use an IRA to invest in gold, you must follow two IRS guidelines.
First, you can only invest in gold approved by the IRS. Although the list of approved options is changing, it must be “highly refined precious metal,” according to the IRS. Specialized custodian banks Standard custodians such as Fidelity, Schwab or TD Ameritrade do not handle physical gold in an IRA. So if you want to hold gold in your IRA, you’ll need to set up a self-directed IRA first and then find a custodian that specializes in self-directed gold IRAs.
A quick Google search for “self-directed Gold IRA” returns numerous results. I know American Bullion has been around for years, as has APMEX. The IRS has issued private letter rulings to the most important gold ETFs, which state that IRAs may own the ETFs. Once you’ve opened a self-directed Gold IRA, you can transfer cash to the account to fund your purchase of physical gold.
Gold IRA companies vary in terms of experience, service, and costs. So take a look around and compare your options before you proceed with opening an account. This is a prohibited transaction as an IRA owner is not allowed to make any purchase or sale transactions with the IRA. To own gold, whether in coins or gold bars, in an IRA, you need a genuine, self-directed IRA, which is offered by some custodian banks. While it’s legal to own gold or silver via an IRA or other retirement account with some restrictions, it’s not the best or most efficient way to own precious metals.
These investments are available in a normal brokerage IRA, which means you wouldn’t have to do the work and additional costs of setting up a self-directed Gold IRA. If you really think it’s a good idea, at least check the IRS rules and custodian fees before investing gold in your IRA. The ETF is also able to buy, store, and insure gold at a much lower price than you or an IRA custodian can. After doing this research, you’ll likely conclude that gold or precious metals and coins shouldn’t be owned by your IRA.
To do this, you’ll need an individual Gold retirement account, commonly referred to as a Gold IRA, although it has its own additional rules to follow and fees to pay. If you suddenly need gold to exchange groceries for groceries, you’d first need to call your custodian bank and fill out the necessary paperwork to get access to your own gold. I think the idea behind storing gold or silver in a Roth IRA is to create tax protection against such an outrageous government move. If this is the only IRA account, or if the other accounts don’t have enough liquidity, you’ll also need to let some of the gold sell so you can raise the money for the RMD.
